Suarez cops ban for gesture

Luis Suarez has been banned by the Football Association for one match and fined £20,000 for a gesture made towards Fulham fans.

His club Liverpool have also been fined £20,000 for failing to control their players in the same match.

The ruling, announced by the FA, comes at a sensitive time for the Reds, who have made clear their anger over an eight-game suspension handed to the Uruguayan striker for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.

The Fulham game, on December 5, saw Reds midfielder Jay Spearing sent off, an incident that led to a handful of Liverpool players remonstrating with referee Keith Friend. The club admitted the charge of failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion but contested the financial penalty.

Despite Liverpool contesting the fine, an independent regulatory commission ruled it was applicable.

Both the club and Suarez, who was pictured apparently giving supporters a one-fingered gesture and admitted the charge against him, have been warned about their future conduct.

Suarez will now miss Friday's match at home to Newcastle.

During the Fulham match the Uruguayan had been targeted by abuse from sections of the crowd who felt he was cheating by going to ground too easily.

However, in the days after the game Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was so incensed by some of the treatment the 24-year-old was subjected to by Fulham players he used his pre-match press conference to show a DVD of incidents he felt supported his claims.

He also argued against the Spearing dismissal, when the midfielder won the ball but his follow-through caught Mousa Dembele, which prompted the protest to Friend by a number of his players.